Alumni Spotlight | Youjin Shin
• Youjin Shin contributed to Lost Games, which received an Honorable Mention in Excellence in Journalistic Innovation at The SOPA 2026 Awards, organized by the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA).
• The SOPA Awards recognize outstanding journalism across the Asia-Pacific region and are widely regarded as one of the region’s most prestigious journalism awards.
• The Excellence in Journalistic Innovation category recognizes work that expands the possibilities of journalism through new formats, technologies, and storytelling approaches.
Alumni Spotlight | Youjin Shin
• Youjin Shin received Gold, Individual: Art Direction Portfolio (Multiplatform) at the 47th Annual Creative Competition organized by the Society for News Design (SND).
• SND is an international organization representing the fields of news design and visual journalism, recognizing outstanding work in areas such as digital storytelling, graphics, illustration, and social media.
• The Gold Award is granted only by unanimous decision of the jury and is not necessarily awarded in every category each year. This year, Individual Gold was presented to only six recipients across five categories, with Youjin Shin receiving Gold in the Art Direction Portfolio category of the Multiplatform division.
Alumni Spotlight | Prof. Kitae Kim
• Our lab alumnus, Dr. Kitae Kim (M.S. '21), is joining North Carolina State University (NCSU) as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering in August 2026.
• He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in May 2026. During his doctoral studies, he developed autonomy stacks for in-row and under-canopy agricultural mobile robots as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center IoT4Ag, with a focus on autonomous navigation, localization, mapping, and multi-modal sensor integration.
• At NCSU, he will establish and lead the Field Automation, Robotics, & Machinery Lab (FARM Lab), developing generalizable, collaborative, and scalable robotic autonomy to address challenges in agriculture, including labor shortages, resource constraints, and climate-resilient food production.
• His research will also extend these core robotic technologies to broader field robotics applications, including forestry and livestock automation.
